Where Angels Fear to Tread by Thomas E. Sniegoski
The Remy Chandler Chronicles, #3

Six year-old Zoe York has been taken and her mother has come to Remy for help. She shows him crude, childlike drawings that she claims are Zoe's visions of the future, everything leading up to her abduction, and some beyond. Like the picture of a man with wings who would come and save her-a man who is an angel.

Zoe's preternatural gifts have made her a target for those who wish to exploit her power to their own destructive ends. The search will take Remy to dark places he would rather avoid. But to save an innocent, Remy will ally himself with a variety of lesser evils-and his soul may pay the price...

-- Where Angels Fear to Tread
by Thomas E. Sniegoski
Copyright © 2010 by Thomas E. Sniegoski

My Review

I saw this novel as a kind of place-holder between Dancing on the Head of a Pin and A Hundred Words for Hate. While interesting, it wasn’t as compelling as the previous two novels. For me, this was due to the fact that Francis, Remy’s fallen-angel friend, was not in this story. Granted, his return from Tartarus is a story in itself, which should be covered in A Hundred Words for Hate, but with him missing, and Remy’s cop friend Steve barely getting a mention in this tale, I felt like my anchor was not in firm ground. I did like, however, Remy’s dream-like interactions with his late wife Madeline. She’s his anchor, and for him to be able to visit with her and get advice from her made me want to cheer for Remy.

I give this story THREE STARS.

The Girl Who Disappeared Twice

The Girl Who Disappeared Twice by Andrea Kane

Forensic Instincts #1

IT HAPPENED ONCE. 

IT HAPPENED AGAIN. 

Despite all her years determining the fates of families, judge Hope Willis couldn't save her own. Her daughter taken, she's frantically grasping at any hope for Krissy's return. Her husband dead-set against it, Hope calls a team not bound by the legal system. 

Forensic Instincts: a behaviorist. A techno-wizard. An intuitive. An ex-Navy SEAL. Unconventional operatives. All with unique talents and personal reasons for joining Casey Woods's group, they'll do whatever it takes. 

Able to accurately read people after the briefest of encounters, Casey picks up in the Willis household signs of a nervous spouse, a guilty conscience, a nanny that hides on her phone. Secrets beg to creep into the open. 

Forensic Instincts will dig through each tiny clue and eliminate the clutter, working around the clock. But time is running out, and Casey's team knows that the difference between getting Krissy back and her disappearing forever could be as small as a suspect's rapid breathing, or as deep as Hope's dark family history.

--The Girl Who Disappeared Twice

by Andrea Kane

Copyright © 2011 by Andrea Kane

My Review

At the beginning of Chapter 5, I figured out who kidnapped Krissy.  Truthfully, I had my suspicions almost from the start, but at this point, I knew.  Of course, I had no clue as to the kidnapper’s motive, or the truth behind Hope’s “dark family history,” so I kept reading.  Right about the half-way point, when Casey is talking to both Hope and her mother about that “dark family history,” I knew who was responsible for that one as well.  Again, didn’t know the motive and all the whys and wherefores, so I kept reading. 

I don’t know why I honed in so quickly on these two.  Perhaps because I’ve read a lot of mysteries (or stories that have mysteries in them) and I’ve learned to spot the odd turn of a phrase or the “subtle” hint that is the keystone to the mystery and from there can divine the answer to the puzzle.  Goodness knows I’ve ready plenty where the bad guy remains a mystery to me up until the very end.  I guess there was just something about the way Kane dropped her hints…they whispered to most people, but they shouted at me.

Okay, my Nancy Drew sleuthing skills aside, what did I think of the story?  I thought it was great.  The team of Forensic Instincts is well organized and run (and fun!) and by the end of the story has picked up three new staff members which they truly needed.  And I love the added complication of Casey being romantically involved with Hutch, a member of the FBI Task Force assigned to the case.  They’re both dedicated to solving the case, but the methods Casey sometimes uses causes a bit of conflict between them.  It’s a delightful complication that will surely continue into the ensuing books in the series. 

Will I read the next book, The Line Between Here and Gone?  Yes, it will go into my queue, because I want to learn more about this team and see how Casey and Hutch resolve their next conflict (there’s bound to be one).

I just hope I don’t figure out the answer, or at least part of the answer, to the mystery so quickly.  If I do, I may have to chalk it up to the writer’s skill and will be leery of the third book in the series (whenever it’s released).

I give this story THREE STARS.

The President's Vampire

The President’s Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

A Nathaniel Cade novel, #2

For 140 years, vampire Nathaniel Cade has been bound to protect and serve the United States of America.  Cade’s existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last, best line of defense against an ever-threatening gallery of nightmarish foes that ordinary citizens couldn’t begin to imagine.

When an ancient evil – one ominously familiar to Cade – is resurrected, the President’s Vampire and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source.  The prime suspect is a shady private defense contractor who may be dealing with powers far deadlier than any mortal weapon.  It’s up to Cade and Zach to drag the forces of darkness into the light…

--The President’s Vampire

by Christopher Farnsworth

Copyright © 2011 by Christopher Farnsworth

Published by Putnam, a division of Penguin Group

My Review

An old enemy is about to unleash an even older threat upon the world and only Nathaniel Cade can stop it.  He had dealt with this particular threat nearly one hundred years ago and thought it gone from the earth, but some things never go away.

Cade’s enemy, going by the name Colonel Graves, has found a way to create a race of reptilian killers called “Snakeheads” using a virus.  One bite, and within minutes, the victim is transformed into a killing machine.  They know no thought except to kill and that means only one person, one thing, can stop them.  But the oath that drives him is the very thing that keeps him from taking out the heart of this particular kill factory.  When Zach is double-crossed and taken prisoner, can Cade find a way to rescue him and put an end to these killers before they’re let loose on a crowd of holiday shoppers?

While this story is as well-designed as its predecessor, the constant switching back and forth between our heroes and the poor people who have the misfortune to become Snakeheads got to be tiresome.  As soon as the story started to move, you have to shift gears into the mind of another unfortunate soul minutes before they’re infected, then they die, and then you can get back to the story.  It got to be a little tiresome after a while.  But for that, it was a good story, and I’m definitely going to go for the third in the series.

I give this story THREE STARS.

Jack in a Box

Jack in a Box by Diane Capri
The Search for Reacher, #2

FBI Special Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar have received a special off-the-books assignment: build a secret file on Jack Reacher. In this short story, Otto and Gaspar reveal a bit of themselves as they make every effort to put Jack in a Box. Reacher fans know that no one boxes with Jack and lives to tell about it. Will Otto and Gaspar be the first to succeed where so many have failed?

--Jack in a Box
by Diane Capri
Copyright © 2012 by Diane Capri, LLC
Published by August Books

Available only in Kindle format

My Review

FBI Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar are still on the case of finding Jack Reacher.  In this short story, Otto is in Wisconsin, paying her respects to her dying grandmother.  Duty complete, she accepts a lift to the airport from one of her cousins, an Army captain.  Before she can exit the vehicle, he hands her a photograph of Reacher with rendezvous information on the back.  When she asks, he tells her he knows Reacher by reputation only and was given the photo to deliver to her.  He doesn’t know anything more than that, other than she needs to watch her back.  She flies to D.C.

In his Miami office, Gaspar receives an envelope with the same picture and the same information.  Assuming she received the same photo, he heads for D.C. and the rendezvous.

At the appointed place, they meet to discuss the situation.  This setup doesn’t feel like Reacher’s style, but who else could be behind it?  At the appointed time, they meet Susan Duffy from the DEA who warns them off the case.  Reacher has friends, she warns, and those friends can destroy your career.  She leaves and once again, Otto catches a glimpse of a man that might be Reacher, but then an attempted robbery shifts her attention and when she looks back, he’s gone.

There.  I just saved you $1.99 and a wee bit of space on your Kindle.

You’re welcome.

Seriously, that’s the whole story, save for learning a bit more about their backgrounds and, of course, that they’re not giving up their assignment.  They also figure out where to go next in their search. 

The writing in this story is an improvement over Don’t Know Jack, but the story is so short, it’s hard to judge.

Do I regret spending my hard-earned money on this?  Meh.  One less chai tea latte.  No big loss.  Will I buy the next story when it comes out?  Sigh.  Probably.  Guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.

I give this story THREE STARS.

White Nights

White Nights by Susan Edwards

Oregon Trail, 1856

After her husband is swept away by the furious waters of the Platte River, Eirica Macauley faces the journey along the Oregon Trail alone with three children and another on the way. But Eirica cannot mourn the loss of such a brute, and vows never to give a man power over her again.

A fellow settler on the trail, James Jones never meant to fall in love with another man's wife, but it was impossible to steel his heart against the beautiful Eirica. If only he can convince Eirica to trust in him, and in her own feelings.

James is everything her husband wasn't: handsome, caring, honorable. His touch ignites passion. Struggling to survive in the untamed West, Eirica can't help but be tempted by James's offer to care for her and the children. But as they near their destination, and a promising future together, they learn the past may not be so far behind after all...

--White Nights
by Susan Edwards
Copyright © 2012 by Susan Edwards
Published by Carina Press ebooks

My Review

The Jones family continues their journey westward to Oregon. Jessie is happy with Wolf, and James is working on his own happiness.

Eirica lost her husband to the rushing waters of the Platte River, but she’s not grieving. He was abusive and a drunk and though she’s terrified about what her future will hold and how she’ll do it caring for four little children, she knows she and they will be happier without Birk.

When James turns on the charm, Eirica finds she can’t resist him. He’s so good with her children and treats her with tenderness and care, something Birk never showed her. She’s free to give in to his gentle pressure and their love grows as they begin to plan for a life together.

But Eirica is not as free as she thinks. The Platte may have claimed many lives, but Birk Macauley is not one of them. And he’s determined to rejoin his wife and make her pay for leaving him to drown.

Although the writing was top-notch as it has been with the other books in the White series, I did not enjoy this story as much as the others due to the subject matter. Granted, this is the aftermath of a woman having lost her abusive husband and she learns to trust another man with her heart, but for me the story line was too predictable. I knew what was going to happen even while I was still reading the previous book in the series, White Wolf. If you plan to read the entire series, don’t leave this one out, just know that it deals with a sensitive subject and may not be to everyone’s liking.

This story was first published in 2003, the remaining stories in the series following naturally. They’re being re-released by Carina Press and the first eight books are available on their web site. Click here to order from Carina Press or the below link to order this book from Amazon.com (and find links to the others available in this series).

I give this story THREE stars.

I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof from NetGalley.

Everything You Need to Know About Everything You Need to Know About the Universe

Everything You Need to Know About Everything You Need to Know About the Universe
by Chris Cooper

The Earth is a fascinating place of unbelievable wonder — and it’s the only home we’ve ever known. But our planet is just a small part of our universe, which is home to many other planets and moons and billions of stars. There’s much to learn about our place in this enormous system — and this book will teach you everything you want to know!

How far apart are the planets? How long is a light year? How many stars are in the Milky Way? Everything You Need to Know About the Universe answers these questions and many more. You’ll never visit Mars or Jupiter, but you’ll learn which is larger. You’ll never visit the Andromeda Galaxy, but you’ll learn how long it would take for it to collide with the Milky Way. Maps, charts, and illustrations in full color bring the entire universe to life.

Everything You Need to Know About the Universe is the perfect reference for anyone who wants to know more about our place in the massive, marvelous solar system.

--Everything You Need to Know About Everything You Need to Know About the Universe
by Chris Cooper
Copyright © 2011 by Anova Books Company, Ltd
Published by Thunder Bay Books

My Review

For those of you who have forgotten much of what you learned in high school science class…

(sigh)

Okay…For those of us who have forgotten much of what we learned in high school science class, this book is for you (us).

This book presents the bare fact about, well, everything you need to know about in simple, easy to understand language with simple yet elegant illustrations. If you want to learn the in depth intricacies of the nucleus of an atom, this book is not for you. However, if you want the basic facts about the sky, innovations, planets, stars, satellites, the sun, galaxies and the cosmos, this book is made for you.

Enjoy, and who knows…you may just learn a thing or two!

I give this book THREE STARS.

I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof from NetGalley.


This book is available for pre-order through Amazon.com and is due to be released April 10, 2012.

Everything You Need to Know About Everything You Need to Know About

Everything You Need to Know About Everything You Need to Know About
by Daniel Tatarsky

Which continent is the largest? What is the composition of the air we breathe? What are the seven natural wonders of the world? You may have once learned the answers to these questions in school, but for most of us those early lessons have faded and been replaced by the minutiae of our daily lives. Yet it can often be helpful to have these facts at your fingertips—and with Everything You Need to Know About Everything, now you can!

Organized into 8 sections—Time & Space, Our World, The Living Earth, Humans, Environment & Society, Making History, Science & Medicine, and Technology & Communications—this fascinating reference is the perfect guide to every aspect of our existence. From the structure of the earth to the structure of our brains, from the big bang to social networking, you’ll gain enough knowledge to satisfy every curiosity.

With maps, charts, and illustrations in full color, Everything You Need to Know About Everything makes it easy to see the world from a new—and wiser!—perspective.

--Everything You Need to Know About Everything You Need to Know About
by Daniel Tatarsky
Copyright © 2011 by Anova Books Company, Ltd
Published by Thunder Bay Books

My Review

For those of you who have forgotten much of what you learned in high school…

(sigh)

Okay…For those of us who have forgotten much of what we learned in high school, this book is for you (us).

This book presents the bare fact about, well, everything you need to know about in simple, easy to understand language with simple yet elegant illustrations. If you want to learn the in depth intricacies of the nucleus of an atom, this book is not for you. However, if you want the basic facts about time and space, our world, humans, history, the environment and society, science and technology, this book is made for you.

Enjoy, and who knows…you may just learn a thing or two!

I give this book THREE STARS.

I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof from NetGalley.

This book is available for pre-order through Amazon.com and is due to be released April 10, 2012.

Canyons of Night

Canyos of Night by Jayne Castle

The island of Rainshadow is home to the mysterious, privately-owned woods known only as the Preserve. Now, after fifteen years away, both Charlotte Enright and her teen crush, Slade Attridge, have returned. But will their psi talents and Slade's dust bunny companion be enough to keep them from getting drawn into the darkness at the heart of the Preserve?

--Canyons of Night
by Jayne Castle
Copyright © 2011 by Jayne Ann Krentz
Published by Putnam Adult

My Review
Canyons of Night follows the same predictable pattern as the previous two books in the series. The beginning where Charlotte and Slade first meet as teenagers was sweet, and I like that they’re reunited fifteen years later as they both return to Rainshadow and seize the opportunity to pursue their attraction as adults. But from there, the plot follows the same predictable patterns that I won’t bother describing because, as I said, it’s predictable.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, the standard “villain explains his/her motive to the heroine right before he/she delivers the killing blow only to be interrupted and arrested/killed by the hero” trope that Krentz/Quick/Castle employs needs to be put to rest. She’s not the only author who employs it, but her use of it stands out in my mind because she seems to use it in every novel she’s written lately.

One of Mrs. Bridewell’s Clockwork Curiosities makes an appearance, as does the eponymous Looking Glass, but again, the mirror almost seems like an afterthought. Why name a series after an item that barely makes an appearance?

There is a place on the island called simply The Preserve. The land is privately owned and it’s protected by a “fence” that interferes with a person’s psi abilities and effectively keeps people out. Most people, anyway. There are a select few, Slade being one of them, who can cross the barrier and enter The Preserve. Activity inside The Preserve is “heating up,” and it’s an obvious set-up for another series of Harmony-only based stories. Hopefully, Ms. Krentz/Castle will stay away from the tropes and come up with a new plot for this series.

Rex, the dust bunny, was probably the only really interesting, fun character in the story.

I give this story THREE STARS because I’m glad this series is over.

Quicksilver

Quicksilver by Amanda Quick

Virginia Dean wakes at midnight beside a dead body, with a bloody knife in her hand and no memory of the evening's events. Dark energy, emanating from the mirrors lining the room, overpowers her senses. With no apparent way in or out, she is rescued by a man she has met only once before, but won't soon forget.

Owen Sweetwater inherited his family's talent for hunting the psychical monsters who prey on London's women and children, and his investigation into the deaths of two glass-readers has led him here. The high-society types of the exclusive Arcane Society would consider Virginia an illusionist, a charlatan, even a criminal, but Owen knows better. Virginia's powers are real-and they just might be the key to solving this challenging case.

--Quicksilver
by Amanda Quick
Copyright © 2011 by Jayne Ann Krentz
Published by Putnam Adult

My Review

I liked the character of Virginia Dean, even though she seems like a carbon copy of all the other Amanda Quick heroines in the Arcane Society series. And Owen Sweetwater? Well, he’s like a carbon copy of the other Amanda Quick heroes in the Arcane Society series. The sameness of the characters and plots, along with the very formal Victorian-style language made the story a bit difficult for me to read.

That being said, Quicksilver also gives us some background into the Clockwork Curiosities that appeared in the first novel, In Too Deep. The Quicksilver Mirror makes an appearance in this novel and we discover its true potential as a weapon when it’s used against Owen. Naturally, Owen recovers from the psychic shock and the mirror is neutralized and turned over to the Arcane Society for safe keeping.

So now I can’t help wondering how big a part it and the Clockwork Curiosities will play in the third novel in the series, Canyons of Night.

I give this story THREE STARS.

Worth Dying For

Worth Dying For by Lee Child

There’s deadly trouble in the corn country of Nebraska…and Jack Reacher walks right into it. First he falls foul of the Duncans, a local clan that has terrified an entire county into submission. But it’s the unsolved, decades-old case of a missing child that Reacher can’t let go.

The Duncans want Reacher gone—and it’s not just past secrets they’re trying to hide. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they’re just the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world. For Reacher, it would have made much more sense to put some distance between himself and the hard-core trouble that’s bearing down on him. For Reacher, that was also impossible.

--Worth Dying For
by Lee Child
Copyright © 2010 by Lee Child
Published by Dell

My Review

All he wanted was a cup of coffee and a place to stay for the night. (Isn’t that what he always wants?) Instead, while trying to do the right thing for a woman in trouble, Jack Reacher manages to make an enemy out of the most powerful family in the county. (Isn’t that what he always does?)

The Duncans rule their corner of Nebraska with an iron fist. They own the only produce trucking company in the area, so if you’re a farmer with produce to get hauled, you call the Duncans or you don’t get your produce hauled. But shipping corn and alfalfa isn’t the company’s only business and if anyone in the area finds out what else they’re shipping, they could find themselves in a world of trouble.

So it’s in their best interest if Reacher would get out of town.

Problem is, he won’t.

He could walk away, head south toward the highway which will take him to Virginia, his intended destination and several times he’s on the verge of doing just that, but it’s the story of an eight year old girl, missing for twenty-five years, that keeps drawing him back. Children and women in trouble are two of his soft spots, and mysteries that remain unsolved bother him. So Reacher is going to stay until he gets to the bottom of the mystery, and he will get to the bottom of it, no matter who gets in his way.

In most of the previous novels in this series, Reacher always has a compelling reason to stay and figure out the mystery he’s presented with. In The Killing Floor, Reacher stays in Margrave, GA because that’s where his brother was killed, and he’s determined to find out who did it. In Die Trying, he was kidnapped and needs to get himself and his fellow kidnappee to safety. In Tripwire, the woman he loves is in danger. Et cetera, et cetera. In Worth Dying For, the reason isn’t quite so compelling. This time, it’s his own personal sense of justice that keeps him in town until the mystery is solved. And while that can be a very strong reason to stay and fight, somehow, it just didn’t feel like enough to me.

Granted, this is a good story with an interest cast of supporting characters with ulterior motives. I love the scenes with Reacher at the Courtyard Marriott and the almost-comically crossed wires the supporting characters get tangled up in. But for all its good points, it fell a little short for me.

I give this story THREE STARS.

The Third Circle

The Third Circle by Amanda Quick

Leona Hewitt, a gifted crystal worker, isn't the only one sneaking into Lord Delbridge's private museum to recover a relic. Thaddeus Ware, a mesmerist with psychic gifts, is on a similar mission. Neither one of them has any idea that this relic—a rare ancient crystal—will lead them in a deadly chase where danger and desire await.

--The Third Circle (An Arcane Society Novel, Book 4)
by Amanda Quick
Copyright © by Jayne Ann Krentz
Published by Putnam Adult, 2008 (Hardback) and Jove Books 2009 (paperback)

My Review

Leona Hewitt has been hunting for the Aurora Stone ever since it was stolen from her family when she was sixteen years old. Now that she’s finally found it, she’s found she has a rival for possession of the stone, one Thaddeus Ware. They manage to steal it from the man who stole it (who stole it from yet another thief), but Thaddeus is unfortunately poisoned in the endeavor. Only Leona, wielding the power to use the Aurora Stone to its full potential, is able to cure him. Leona, with the aid of her friend Adam Harrow, leaves Thaddeus in the care of an innkeeper and disappears into the night.

Thaddeus, however, is not about to be denied the woman who saved his life. He tracks her down and convinces her that the man they stole the Aurora Stone from can find her just as easily. His words prove to be true when she finds the Aurora Stone is not where she hid it in her home.

Reluctantly accepting his offer of protection, Leona and her dog, Fog, move in with Thaddeus and his aunt, Victoria Melton. Together, they plot to find out who took the stone and get it back.

Meanwhile, Thaddeus is conducting an investigation on the behest of the Arcane Society into a series of murders attributed to a man the press calls the Midnight Monster. The Aurora Stone, the Monster and a mysterious cabal called The Third Circle are connected and Thaddeus and Leona must tread carefully to expose the members of The Third Circle before they end up like the victims of the Midnight Monster.

I found the pacing in parts of this story to be long, hard and tedious. Part of that, I suppose, is due to the verbiage Amanda Quick employs to give the story the proper Victorian-era atmosphere that, if one were to be honest, it so rightly deserves as the style of speaking in that time was quite formal.

Ahem…

That being said, I did enjoy this story as it gave the background into two more Arcane Society entities, Jones and Jones Investigations and ArcaneMatch.com (though I’m sure it had a different name before the internet era).

Thaddeus and Leona’s search for the Aurora Stone took some predictable turns and the romantic entanglement between them was a given (it is a romance, after all) but it was an enjoyable read.

I’ve read the next two novels in the Arcane Society series, Running Hot and Perfect Poison but will have to re-read them in order to give a review. They may wait, however, as I have several other new books to read and would like to get to them before doing any re-reads.


I give this story THREE STARS.

Second Sight

Second Sight (The Arcane Society, Book 1) by Amanda Quick

Financially straitened and on the path to spinsterhood, Venetia Milton thought her stay at the remote, ramshackle Arcane House would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engineer her own ravishment. She was there to photograph the artifacts collected by a highly secretive organization, founded two centuries earlier by an alchemist. And the alchemist's descendant-her employer, Gabriel Jones-has the eyes of a sorcerer.

But despite Venetia's intent to seduce Mr. Jones and move on, she is shattered upon her return home to read in the press of his violent demise. Using the sizable fee Mr. Jones paid her, Venetia establishes a new life, opening a gallery in London. Of course, posing as a respectable widow makes it easier to do business, so-in a private tribute to her lost, only lover-she assumes the identity of "Mrs. Jones."

Her romantic whim, however, will cause unexpected trouble. For one thing, Mr. Jones is about to stride, living and breathing, back into Venetia's life. And the two share more than a passionate memory-indeed, they are bonded by a highly unusual sort of vision, one that goes far beyond Venetia's abilities as a photographer. They also share a terrible threat-for someone has stolen a centuries-old notebook from Arcane House that contains a formula believed to enhance psychic powers of the kind Gabriel and Venetia possess. And the thief wants to know more-even if he must kill the keeper of the Arcane Society's treasures, or the photographer who catalogued them, to obtain such knowledge.

--Second Sight (The Arcane Society, Book 1)
by Amanda Quick
Copyright © 2006 by Jayne Ann Krentz
Published by The Putnam Group

My Review

Though I try, sometimes I simply cannot improve on the synopsis provided by the publisher. The above is taken from Amazon.com’s “Product Description” of the book and it seems quite lengthy for a “back-of-the-book” blurb, but sometimes Amazon is all I can draw from, so there you go.

Venetia Milton is not your typical Victorian-era heroine. She’s strong-minded, willful and determined to do things her way. She has to in order to support her family, which consists of herself, her younger brother and sister and her aunt.

Gabriel Jones is also not your typical Victorian-era hero. He’s open-minded about women establishing businesses for themselves and encourages Venetia in her work, except, of course, when her life is potentially in danger, he puts his foot down, and she very neatly trods over it. Which, of course, both infuriates him and makes him admire her even more. Truly a modern thinker.

Amanda Quick captures the era very nicely, and her historical knowledge of Victorian-era photography is excellent. Throw in the supernatural elements that she is quite adept at weaving into her stories and you have a well-constructed, entertaining story that’s a good kick-off to the Arcane Society series.

For those who don’t already know, Jayne Ann Krentz writes under two pseudonyms, Amanda Quick for historicals, Jayne Castle for futuristics and uses her own name for contemporaries. The Arcane Society series crosses all three of these genres, though each book can be read on its own. I’ll be reading/re-reading the series but not back-to-back, as I have so many books to read. I foresee the consumption of this series taking me well into next year…but I’m no psychic, so we’ll see!

I give the story THREE stars.

Talk of the Town

Talk of the Town by Lisa Wingate

Can anything go right in this tumbleweed town?

Her show, American Megastar, is TV’s hottest program, but life couldn’t be worse for associate producer Mandalay Florentino. She’s just arrived in the hayseed town of Daily, Texas, to arrange a surprise “reunion concert” for hometown finalist Amber Anderson—only everyone seems to know the secret already.

Plus she keeps crossing paths with a gorgeous cowboy with blue eyes who may not be the country boy he appears to be.

And the paparazzi are swarming.

And her boss is demanding perfection…or else.

With the faith and future of a young singer on the line, Mandalay and the town of Daily must find the courage—and the creativity—to make sure the reunion concert is unforgettable!

--Talk of the Town by Lisa Wingate, Copyright ©2008 by Wingate Media LLC, published by Bethany House Publishers

My Review

Mandalay Florentino is an associate producer of the hit TV series American Megastar. She’s a typical twenty-something mid-level executive. Her life is good, but not perfect. Her job on television is not what she set out to do, but she likes it and she’s good at it—at least, she thinks she is. She has a fiancée, but he has yet to buy her a ring. Her boss is a dragon lady, but Manda seems to be handling her well. All in all, everything is okay.

Except…her up-and-coming startlet, Amber Anderson, keeps landing into trouble. She doesn’t mean to—she’s an innocent Gospel singer from a small town in Texas. How was she supposed to know what “going clubbing” meant? And the brat-pack bad-boy the tabloids have her hooked up with—he’s just so sweet with her, she can’t understand how he got that reputation. It all adds up to headaches for Manda. Especially when she finds out a Christian music recording executive may be trying to set up a private meet with Amber, a strict no-no in Amber’s American Megastar contract.

Manda arrives in Daily, Texas, to prepare for a special “reunion” segment of the show. It’s a regular feature of the show, visiting the hometowns of the five finalists to show America where their next megastar grew up. The town of Daily is preparing for its Reunion Days, so what better time than that to bring Daily’s megastar home for a special concert? Problem is, the hometown specials were supposed to be kept secret, and in a small town like Daily, there are no secrets.

She hasn’t told anyone who she is or why she’s in Daily, but the locals aren’t idiots. They figured out pretty quickly that something big was about to happen in their little town and since their girl Amber was on the show, it had to be connected to her. Manda desperately tries to keep the reunion concert secret while at the same time tries to learn everything she can about Amber for the hometown special.

Having everyone in town know about Amber making it to the final five is a small hiccup in her plans, but Manda can work around it. What she can’t work around is her growing feelings for a certain other stranger in town. Carter Woods was in Daily on business though he never specified what that business was. Circumstances throw the two together and Manda’s starting to fall for the Austin cowboy in the Hawaiian shirt. But she has a fiancée…doesn’t she? If so, why did she find his active profile on an on-line dating site?

When she finds out exactly what Carter’s business is, and the plans her own boss has in store for her and for Amber, Manda has a decision to make. Go along with her boss, save her career and watch a potential megastar crumble, or do what’s right and pray that God will help her land on her feet.

I had a little trouble with the format of this story. It’s told in first person, with every odd-numbered chapter from Mandalay’s point-of-view and every even-numbered chapter from Imagene Doll’s (an elderly, colorful resident of Daily) point-of-view. After a while, though, I got used to it and found it was a rather interesting way to tell the story. Not only does the reader get Manda’s view, but the town’s as well through Imagene.


This is a contemporary Christian story, but it’s very light with its Christianity. Most of the characters are Christian and their faith comes through in the way they live and the things they say. It’s not preachy in the slightest, so if those types of stories turn you off, you won’t be turned off by this story. Talk of the Town is a fun, lighthearted romance well worth a read.

I give this story THREE STARS.

Rain Fall

Rain Fall by Barry Eisler

Born of an American mother and a Japanese father, John Rain is a businessman based in Tokyo, living a life of meticulously planned anonymity. Trained by the U.S. Special Forces and a veteran of Vietnam, he is a cool, self-contained loner—and he has built a steady business over the past twenty-five years specializing in death by “natural causes.” He is also a man struggling with his own divided nature: Japanese/American; soldier/assassin; samurai/ronin.

From its richly atmospheric and ominous opening pages—in which we witness the death of a stranger in a crowded subway car—Rain’s carefully ordered world begins to unravel. Unknown agents from within and without the international intelligence communities have been circling him for years and, having connected him to the subway job, now have the scent they have been seeking. At the same time, Rain is drawn outside his private world by an alluring jazz pianist, the dead man’s daughter, who is the key to the very secrets that her father died trying to reveal.
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John Rain, a Japanese American konketsu, or half-breed, learned his lethal trade as a member of the U.S. Special Forces. Although tortured by memories of atrocities he committed in Vietnam, he has become a paid assassin, a solitary man who lives in the shadows and trusts no one, even those who pay extraordinary sums for his ability to make murder look like natural death. But the aftermath of an otherwise routine hit on a government bureaucrat brings Rain to the attention of two men he knows from the old days in Vietnam: a friend who's now a Tokyo cop and an enemy who betrayed Rain long ago and is now the CIA's station chief in Japan. Like the gangster who hired Rain to kill Yasuhiro Kawamura, they want something the dead man had--a computer disk containing proof of high-level corruption, information that could destroy Japan's ruling political coalition. The search for the disk leads them to a woman Rain has come to love, a talented young jazz musician who also happens to be Kawamura's daughter. --Jane Adams –Amazon.com review

--Rain Fall by Barry Eisler, Copyright ©2002 by Barry Eisler

My Review

Rain Fall is the 1st book in the John Rain series.

John Rain, professional assassin, has only three rules. One, his target must be male. Two, he works exclusively—no competition. Three, the target must be a principle, no killing one person to send a message to another. So when he accepts the assignment to take out Yasuhiro Kawamura, a bureaucrat connected with the Liberal Democratic Party, he confirms these three facts and sets out to learn as much as he could about his target in order to make the man’s death look as natural as possible. That’s his specialty, after all.

When Kawamura collapses on the Tokyo subway, it looks like a heart attack. The autopsy will reveal that the man’s pacemaker must have malfunctioned, eliminating any needs for a homicide investigation. Rain is satisfied that the job is complete, however, he’s mildly bothered by the gaijin, a Westerner who appears to be trying to help Kawamura, but in fact, starts searching the dead man’s pockets. But there’s nothing he can do about that.

Days later, Rain finds out that during Kawamura’s funeral, someone tossed Kawamura’s apartment. He comes to the conclusion that the Westerner was supposed to meet Kawamura and receive something from him, something that would cause a later search of the dead man’s apartment. Not his problem, but he’s intrigued to find out Kawamura had a daughter, Midori, and that she was an up-and-coming jazz musician. Rain enjoys jazz and decided to catch one of her performances at a local club. But he’s not the only aficionado of Midori’s music. The Westerner who searched Kawamura’s pockets shows up. After her performance, Rain follows the Westerner to a nearby Starbucks, where he’s arranged a meeting with Midori. Rain, watching from a diner across the street, sees that the meeting does not go well and can’t help but want to find out what exactly is going on.

His curiosity is aroused even further when he receives another job assignment. The target? Midori Kawamura. Kawamura had something he was supposed to give to the Westerner, but was unable to. Now the people hiring Rain believe Midori is in the possession of the mysterious “something,” so she must be eliminated as well.

This violates one of his rules and he decides to do the exact opposite. Instead of taking out the target, he’s going to protect the target. And in the process, becomes a target himself.

I’d seen Barry Eisler’s Rain series on the shelves of my library but with so many unread books at home, I couldn’t bring myself to insert this book ahead of all those. But two weeks ago, looking for something new, my mind latched on to this book and wouldn’t let go. So I went ahead and checked it out. I’m glad I did because this was a very well written story, although it did delve rather strongly into Rain’s background. All the forays into the past began to bother me after a while, but I knew that they were necessary to explain Rain’s history and how he became the man he is today. I’m hoping that the remaining books in the series, Hard Rain, Rain Storm, Killing Rain, The Last Assassin and Requiem for an Assassin will not go so much into the past (unless truly necessary) and will focus on Rain’s future adventures.

I give it THREE stars.

Thicker Than Water

Thicker Than Water by Maggie Shayne

It was called a haven for runaway teens. In truth, it was a nightmare, one that ended in a fiery violence sixteen years ago. Or so its survivors believed…

Syracuse news anchor Julie Jones is afraid. Her long-dead past was resurrected when a blackmailer threatened to expose secrets that could destroy her. Then the man was found dead—his throat cut with a knife from Julie’s own kitchen. Now a new, faceless enemy wants more than money. This time Julie stands to lose the most precious thing of all—her teenaged daughter, Dawn.

Julie finds herself with one unlikely ally, Sean MacKenzie. A journalist with a flair for the sensational, Sean covers the worst humanity has to offer. Julie Jones I hiding something that terrifies her, and he’s determined to find out what. He just can’t decide whether his goal is to expose her or save her.

Julie will do anything to protect her daughter. But someone else is watching, willing to do whatever it takes to avenge a past that cannot be forgotten.

--Thicker Than Water by Maggie Shayne, Copyright ©2003 by Margaret Benson, published by Mira Books

My Review

Blackmail is an ugly thing. Even uglier when you’re the one being blackmailed.

Julie Jones, respected Syracuse television news anchor, knows that fact all too well. But she’s had enough. She’s not going to pay her blackmailer any more, no matter what happens. But when she steps out of the bathroom of her blackmailer’s hotel room to deliver the bad news, she finds him dead on the floor. Someone managed to sneak into the room while she was in the bathroom and stabbed Harry Blackwood to death.

She makes her escape but in her haste, dropped her keys. She bluffs her way past the cops and manages to find a way to make the appearance of her keys plausible. But do they, or her new co-anchor, Sean MacKenzie believe her?

Sean and Julie have a special kind of chemistry between them, one that works well on the television screen but not so well in real life. Or does it? Sean’s attracted to Julie despite what his instincts are telling him. They’re telling him the lady has something to hide, and being the reporter he is, he wants to dig and find the answers. She’s connected to the dead man and he’s going to find out what that connection is.

Meanwhile, they have another story to work on, a human interest-type regarding renown seer and psychic Nathan Z. Julie’s daughter, Dawn, idolizes the seer and goes with Julie and Sean to a taping of one of his shows. Julie is shocked to realize Nathan Z is actually Mordecai Young, the leader of a “cult” she had briefly been a member of. Young died years earlier when the compound was raided by the FBI, or so she and everyone else in the world thought. But he managed to survive and there’s something he wants.

His daughter.

Julie’s daughter.

Julie would move heaven and earth to protect Dawn from Young. Can she trust Sean enough to accept his help when she is still suspicious of his true motives?

I give this story THREE STARS.

Kindred in Death

Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb

When the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, they are looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter, who stayed behind.

Not even their worst nightmares could prepare them for the crime scene that awaits them instead. Deena has been brutally murdered in her bedroom, and her body shows signs of trauma that horrify even the toughest of cops, including our own Lieutenant Eve Dallas, who is specifically requested by the captain to investigate.

When the evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team think they are about to arrest their perpetrator; little do they know that someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities.

Overconfidence can lead to careless mistakes. But for Dallas, one mistake might be all she needs to serve justice.

--Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb, Copyright ©2009 by J.D. Robb, published by Penguin Books

My Review

Kindred in Death starts as all of the In Death books do…with murder. This time, it’s young Deena McMasters. Someone managed to get access to her home, and to her, to carry out the bloody, horrific crime. When her parents return home from vacation, they find her body, and her father, NYPSD Captain McMasters specifically requests Lieutenant Eve Dallas as primary.

Dallas and her partner, Detective Delia Peabody, hit the ground running. In speaking with her best friend, she finds out Deena had a secret boyfriend who wasn’t all he claimed to be. He said he was a student at Columbia, a story Dallas quickly disproves. What else wasn’t he, she wonders, and quickly set out finding this Columbia-student-impostor.

As Dallas digs, she finds a startling motive and a strange reflection back to her own past. There’s no connection, but the similarities are unnerving, and that just makes Dallas want to put an end to the murder’s plans even more.

She’s hot on his trail, but not before he manages to claim another victim. The McMasters family is planning a memorial for Deena and Dallas knows her egotistical murder won’t resist the opportunity to make an appearance. Can Dallas apprehend her prey before he gets away to kill again?

The more I read J.D. Robb's stories, the more they begin to sound the same and the more I can predict what will happen next. In this story, as soon as the memorial service was announced, I knew Dallas would set up an operation to take down their main suspect at the service. But I also knew that he would somehow get away and they would make their grab at the third victim's home. And I was right. My interest in the series is waning...as evidence, consider that Kindred in Death came out in late 2009 and I only just now read it. I have the next in the series, Indulgence in Death but I'm not sure I'm going to buy the latest, Treachery in Death. I may wait until it comes out in paperback...we'll see.

I give this story THREE STARS.

Creepers

Creepers by David Morrell

The Darkest Secrets Live…

On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore and prepare to break into the Paragon Hotel. The once-magnificent structure is now boarded up and marked for demolition.

They are “creepers”: urban explorers with a passion for investigating abandoned buildings and their dying secrets. Reporter Frank Balenger joins them to profile this highly illegal activity for the New York Times. But he isn’t looking for just another story, and soon after they enter the rat-infested tunnel leading to the hotel, he gets more than he bargained for. Danger, fear and death await the creepers in a place ravaged by time and redolent of evil.

…In Places You’re Not Supposed To Be.

--Creepers by David Morrell, Copyright ©2005 by Morrell Enterprises, Inc. published by CDS Books

My Review

The first David Morrell book I read was The Brotherhood of the Rose back in 1985 and I’ve loved his writing for many years afterward. I haven’t read all of his books and in fact, haven’t picked up anything of his for several years. When I stumbled across this book at the store, I had to grab it. One, because I hadn’t read Morrell in several years and two, the subject matter.

T.L. Hines’ The Unseen was my first fictional exposure to urban explorers. I enjoyed that book tremendously and was looking forward to another author’s take on the subject. This isn’t just a story of a group of explorers that stumble onto a mystery in an abandoned luxury hotel. It’s a story of a group of explorers with secrets, meeting others with agendas, meeting others with more secrets, and wondering who will win in the end.

The story starts out innocently enough. Professor Robert Conklin invites New York Times reporter Frank Balenger on an exploration with three of his former students, Cora, Rick and Vinnie. They’re going to check out the Paragon Hotel in Asbury Park on the Jersey shore. Built in 1901, it was abandoned in the early 1970s when its owner died. Now it’s slated for demolition and now would be their only chance to explore this magnificent art deco structure.

The only safe way into the hotel is through the sewers. They make their way through the rat-infested tunnels, finding some interesting animal mutations along the way. Once inside the hotel, they begin their exploration, learning what they can about previous tenants and the mysterious owner, Morgan Carlisle.

But they’re not the only ones exploring the Paragon. A group of thieves, eager to make a quick score, have found their own way inside, and they’re interested in whatever treasures the professor might know about. And it seems he knows a lot…the professor has secrets that he reluctantly shares with the others. Frank, too, has his secrets, and they come out as well. Following the professor’s information, they uncover a treasure in gold…and a terrified woman who had been held captive in the hotel for several months. Her captor is Morgan Carlisle’s son, she says. Impossible, says the professor. He had no children. Then who is her captor? And what connection does and the captor have to Frank’s missing wife, Diane?

Everyone has secrets, and everyone’s playing for keeps. Question is, who will be alive at the end? And who will be sane?

I give this story THREE STARS.

Infinity: Chronicles of Nick

Infinity: Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon

At fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him. Streetwise, tough and savvy, Nick and his quick sarcasm are the stuff of legend…until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior who has more fighting skills than Chuck Norris, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity.

Nick quickly learns that the human world is only a veil covering a much larger and more dangerous one: a world where the captain of the football team is a werewolf and the girl he has a crush on goes out at night to stake the undead.
But before Nick can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students are turning into flesh-eating zombies. And he’s next on the menu.

As if starting high school isn’t hard enough, now Nick has to hide his new friends from his mom, his chainsaw from the principal and keep the zombies and the demon Simi from eating his brains, all without getting grounded or suspended. How in the world is he supposed to do that?

--Infinity: Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Copyright ©2010 by Sherrilyn Kenyon, published by St. Martin’s Press

My Review

I have to admit, when I first started reading this novel, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve loved Nick practically since the beginning of the Dark Hunters series and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know all the details of Nick’s teen years. I felt I knew enough and I like a little mystery in my men. But when I realized the series would also give me more background on some of the Dark Hunter characters, I decided to give it a go.

Nick is your average 14 year old high schooler…if your average high schooler is from the wrong side of the tracks, being raised by a single mother, dad’s in prison—where he can stay, thank you very much—going to an expensive private school on a scholarship where he risks getting beaten up and/or insulted in some form or another practically on a daily basis.

But life at this average high school is about to become decidedly un-average when a student is attacked on school grounds by a zombie. Nick’s life is changed when his eyes are opened to a world he never knew existed in his own back yard.


And…um…I’m not sure what else to say. Yeah, a whole lot of things happen. Nick finds out that the zombies his friends Bubba and Mark were always talking about are real, there are vampires and werewolves running around the city and the people he always thought were just a little bit crazy turned out to be completely sane. And he needs to trust them, otherwise he just might go a little insane himself.


I was all set to tear into a huge, deep gaping chasm of a mistake in this story when Kenyon managed to redeem herself toward the end of Chapter 13. You see, I’ve read all the stories in Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series and I know when Nick meets Simi for the first time and how that meeting impacts their futures. Now in Infinity, Nick’s meeting her for the first time at age 14. How can he meet her for the first time in his late 20s if he meets her at 14? Big, huge, deep gaping chasm of a mistake…right? But, as I said, Kenyon redeems herself, and very nicely too, and explains away the error, because it’s not an error. Get it? No? Read the book and you will. Pay special attention to Ambrose’s words in Chapter 13.

Infinity: Chronicle of Nick was written for the Young Adult audience, so if you’re expecting the same, ahem, action as in the Dark Hunter novels, you’ll be disappointed. Nick’s a teenager, and while he notices girls, nothing more happens than a quick little kiss. Just one. But it’s a fun story and a great introduction to the life of one of the most interesting of all the Dark Hunter characters.

I give this story THREE STARS.

The Closers

The Closers by Michael Connelly

He walked away from the job three years ago. But Harry Bosch cannot resist the call to join the elite Open/Unsolved Unit. His mission: solve murders whose investigations were flawed, stalled, or abandoned to L.A.’s tides of crime. With some people openly rooting for his failure, Harry catches the case of a teenager dragged off to her death on Oat Mountain, and traces the DNA on the murder weapon to a small-time criminal. But something bigger and darker beckons, and Harry must battle to fit all the pieces together. Shaking cages and rattling ghosts, he will push the rules to the limit—and expose the kind of truth that shatters lives, ends careers, and keeps the dead whispering in the night…

--Hot Mahogany by Stuart Woods, Copyright ©2008 by Stuart Woods, published by Putnam Books

My Review

After three years of doing his own thing, Harry Bosch is rejoining the Los Angeles Police Department, working with his old partner, Kizmin Rider, in the Open/Unsolved Unit. (Ever watch Cold Case? Then you’ve got the idea.) While some people are happy to see Harry back on the job, some people are not, and they let him know it. Harry doesn’t let it bother him, though. He’s just happy to be working again.

The first case Harry and Kiz pick up is the unsolved murder of a sixteen year old teenager, Rebecca Verloren. She was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night and shot in the woods behind her house. The gun was found on the scene. DNA on the gun, which wasn’t around at the time of the murder, hit on a known felon, Roland Mackey, but he didn’t have any noticeable ties to Becky.

But there could be a connection. Mackey was rumored to be a kind of white supremacist, and Becky was mix-raced. Could Roland’s old gang have something to do with her murder? If not them, then it was probably her boyfriend, the one she got pregnant by but never told her parents about…the boyfriend or the pregnancy.

Mackey looks good for the murder, but his DNA on the murder weapon means he had the gun in his possession, not that he killed Becky. Not enough proof. So Harry and Kiz work to find the proof. Along the way, they uncover a nasty little secret the department has been hiding, a secret that, if uncovered, could cost Harry his job barely before it’s begun.

I have several of Michael Connelly’s books, but unlike my usual procedure with series, I’m not reading these in any particular order. It does leave me slightly disoriented at times and raises some minor questions in my mind about Harry. Perhaps one day I’ll retrace my steps, find book 1 and start from there. Then my questions will be answered. Maybe...

I give this story THREE STARS.

Promises in the Dark

Promises In The Dark by Stephanie Tyler

On the run, in each other’s arms, with one last chance to survive…

A rugged Navy SEAL, Zane Scott was part of a failed mission to rescue Dr. Olivia Strohm from abduction by the terrorist group Dead Man’s Hand—and her anguished screams have haunted him ever since. So when he gets word that the beautiful physician has escaped from her captors in Africa, he’s got personal reasons to storm the continent and save her.

Like her would-be liberator, Olivia carries the burden of a dark secret from her past. Ruthless and relentless, the DMH has threatened to hunt her down—and to systematically hurt anyone she’s close to. The last thing she wants is to be rescued—even by someone as shockingly handsome as Zane. Yet the hotheaded special ops hero has come for her, and together she and Zane just might have a shot at not only stopping DMH’s reign of terror, but also saving what’s left of their souls.

--Promises in the Dark by Stephanie Tyler, Copyright ©2010 by Stephanie Tyler, published by Dell, an imprint of Random House, Inc

My Review

The continuation of Lie With Me, Promises in the Dark continues the story of the Scott brothers, focusing on Zane and Caleb (but mostly Zane). Inexplicably drawn to Dr. Olivia Strohm, he searches for her for six long months after she was kidnapped by international terrorist group DMH. She’s managed to escape her captors and disappear into the African desert. Zane tracks her down, though, and to get her back to the States, he must get her to Freetown, a coastal African that holds too many memories for Zane.

Meanwhile, brother Cael has taken on babysitter duties as he rescues Vivianna Clare, the daughter of a master computer programmer—and a pretty darned good programmer in her own right—before DMH can get their hands on her. Her father wrote a program vital to the nation’s security and DMH has stolen a copy. Now DMH and Vivi are in a race to find the only flaw in the program. DMH wants to exploit it and Vivi wants to fix it. Who’s going to win this race?

I give this story THREE STARS.